Cooling tower structure



March 28, 1961 L. R. SMITH ET AL COOLING TOWER STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Nov. 25, 1957 IN VNTOR LEW/J A. JM/ 7H MCA 5/9/1/ A. AME/Q7654ATTORNEY March 28, 1961 R. SMITH ET AL 2,977,103

COOLING TOWER STRUCTURE Filed Nov. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY 3W 5MATTORNEY 2,971,103 COOLING TOWER STRUCTURE Lewis R. Smith, McLean A.Ambrose, and Walter M.

Hassenplug, Jackson, Micl'n, assignors toAcme Industries, Inc., Jackson,Mich., a corporation of Delaware The invention relates to cooling towerstructure and is particularly directed to the battles or plates used tointermingle the cooling air with the water.

The efiiciency of a counterfiow coolingtower is 'dependent on-manyfactors including the intimacy of contact of the air and water, surfacearea of waterper unit volume, presence of air and water bypasses ornon-intermixing portions of the tower, maintenance of a constant air towater ratio over the entire cooling area and resistance of the air flowthrough the tower. Many types of cooling bafiies or plates have beendevised to effect the intermixing of the air and water, a conventionalarrangement consisting of a series of vertical, closely spaced :platesor bafiles through which air is forced upwardly, nozzles spray waterover the uppermost edges of the plates which fiows down the sides of theplates mixing and carried off through evaporation.

The plates of such cooling towers are thus subjected to constantexposure of water and air and as the air surrounding commercialestablishments utilizing cooling towers is often polluted with vapors ofsulphur, coal tar, etc., the plates are exposed to a'severe oxidizingand corroding atmosphere. For these reasons metal plates have proventroublesome and expensive to maintain, wood plates and bafiles havefound wide usage being relatively "ice Fig. 3 is a cross-sectionalelevation view taken along the line IH-IH of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-.--IV of Fig. 2illustrating the cooperation between adjacent plates maintaining spacing1 and alignment, and

Fig. 5' isa schematic end elevation view disclosing a type of coolingtower utilizing the cooling deck of the invention illustrating thepreferred relationship of fluid distributing nozzles and air circulatingmeans.

7 The preferred form of cooling deck 10 employing the plates or--bafiles. .of the'inven'tion is shown in Figl and consists of arectangular. box-like container, open at 'with the airwhereby heatwithin the water is absorbed free from corrosion, however cooling towersof this type are very heavy, large and bulky and the plates must beperiodically replaced as deposits rapidly develop thereon and rottingtakes place.

It is, therefore, an object ofthe invention to produce a cooling towerof the wette'd'plate typewherein the plates are non-corrosive,lightweight, economical, and efiiciently intermix the air and waterpassing between them.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cooling plate whichproduces air turbulence between the plates to increase the evaporationand cooling process, yet does not create excessive air frictionrequiring heavy duty air circulating means.

A further object of the invention is to design a cooling tower plate ofinert plastic which will not rot, rust or otherwise deteriorate and fromwhich deposits may be easily removed.

Yet another object of the invention is to design a cooling tower platewhich will evenly spread and distribute the cooling water over thesurface of the plate and which are self-spacing and aligning whenassembled to form a deck.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent whenviewed with regard to the following specification and drawing wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view partially broken away, of a cooling deckassembly illustrating the relationship of the plates and ribs,

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of one side of a cooling plate where theribs, spacing protuberances, and aligning lugs project toward theviewer,

the top. The sides and bottom ,of thedeck frame may be formed of spacedU-shaped wire members 12 main tained in relationship by the longitudinalwires 14 weld ed thereto. It will-be understood that similarlongitudinal wires, not shown,are welded to the bottom of the frameconnecting wires 12: in the same manner as shown on the side. The endsor the frame may consist of solid metal sheets 16 welded to the endsofthe wires completing the deck'framea v The cooling plates or baflles18 are placed within the deck frame as shown in Fig. 1 whereby theentire interior of the frame is filled with plates 18 which are held inparallel spaced relation as will subsequently be apparent.

The method in which cooling deck 10 is best utilized is illustrated inFig. 5 wherein a schematic form of cooling tower is shown. The coolingtower cabinet or housing 20 is provided with an inlet grill 22 in thelower portions and an outlet grill 24 in the upper regions through whicha blower 26 exhausts. The blower 26 is located within housing 20 andtends to create a vacuum within the housing drawing air in through inletgrill 22. The cooling deck 10 is located within housing 20 intermediategrills 22 and 24 and sealing means are provided between the deck 10 andhousing 20 to insure that all of the air passing through the coolingtower housing flows through the deck between plates 18 thereby obtainingmaximum use of the air circulated and maintaining a low air to waterratio. The water to be cooled is sprayed over the plates 18 by a seriesof nozzles 28 which are located above the entire width and length ofdeck 10- causing water to be distributed to all of the plates. The waterflows down plates 18 in intimate contact with theair flowing upward andthe heat of the water is transferred to the air. The cooled water iscollected in a sump 39 within housing 2% where it may be used asdesired. The advantages of the counter-flow, type of cooling tower arewell known and by locating the blower 26 at the outlet grill rather thanthe inlet grill damming or variable pressure areas with the housing 20are further eliminated promoting an even flow of air through allportions of the cooling deck.

The plates 18 constituting deck 10 are best shown in Figs. 2 and 3 andare molded from a single homogeneous sheet 32 of polystyrene or otherchemically inert plastic. The properties necessary forthe sheet materialinclude the ability to be molded or formed, suflicient structuralstrength to support its own weight when placed on its edge, and theability to be easily cleaned of foreign deposits.

A series of spaced parallel ribs 34 of arcuate crosssection are formedon sheet 32 substantially the length thereof. Ribs 34 serve tostrengthen sheet 32 and to break up the riverlets of water flowing downthe plate, thereby spreading the water over the entire area of the plateduring the downward flow. By forming the ribs 34 horizontally at rightangles to the flow of water travel the ribs spread the water withoutdirecting the flow.

Thus, care should be taken in the installation of the.

cooling tower to level the tower whereby ribs 34 will be in properperpendicular relation to the water flow.

Spacing between adjacent plates 18 is maintained by a plurality ofprotuberances 36 arranged in transverse and longitudinal rows on theplate. As in the manner of ribs 34 the protuberances 36 are also formedfrom the sheet 32 and as best shown in Fig. 3 have a truncated conicalshape, the upper surface 38 being parallel to the general plane of plate18. The protuberances 36 also act to intermix the air and water asairturbulence will be created by these projections. v

To prevent the protuberances 36 of one plate from nesting with theprotuberances 36 of adjacent plates, 'which would result in improper andinconsistent spacing, aligning lugs 40 are formed in acentrally locatedrow on plate 18. The lugs 40 project from the surface of sheet 16 agreater distance than protuberances 36, Fig.- 4, whereby the convexportions of lugs 40 will nest within the concave depressions of the lug40 of the adjacent plate.

4 vention may be used with cooling towers other than those of thecounterflow type, towers of cross flow or parallel flow principle mayalso effectively utilize the efficient air and water intermixing'characteristics of the plates 18 to advantage.

It will be understood that various modifications of the illustratedembodiments may be made within the purview of the invention. Thus, itisnot necessary that the spreading ribs, protuberances and aligningmembers be on thesame side of the sheet but may be located on both sidesthereof if desired. Likewise, the cross sections of the ribs,protuberances and. lugs may -be other than as disclosed yet performsimilar functions. These It will be noted in Figs. 2 and 4 that thespacing of I the first protuberances 36 to the right and left of lugs 40are different, e.g., the distance A is greater thanthe distance B. Thus,by inverting adjacent plates 18 as they are inserted in the deck 10during the assembly thereof, the protuberances 36 of adjacent plates 18will assume the relationship shown in Fig. 4 where the upper surface 38contacts the planar portions of the adjacent plate insuring the'correctplate spacing throughout the entire cooling deck 10.

Preferably, the sheet 32 is also embossed on the planar portions asrepresented in Fig. 2 aiding in spreading the water flow.

When assembled the cooling deck 10 comprises a light weight heatexchanging unit, as the water distributed by nozzles 28 flows over theplates 18 the ribs 34 and the embossed surfaces will spread the flowover the plate and, at the same time, ribs 34 and protuberances 36create air turbulance without producing excessive air friction wherebythe air traveling upward between the plates is intimately intermixedwith the water which will be cooled by evaporation. By constructing theplates 18 of inert plastic the usual maintenance problems encounteredwith cooling plates, such as oxidation, corrosion, rotting, etc., areeliminated) Deposits due to foreign matter in the water and air are slowto form on the plastic plates and may be easily removed with a highvelocity water stream or brush. The plates 18 will remain in service thelife of the cooling tower, lowering maintenance and replacement costs,and the lighter weight of the plastic cooling deck permits a moreeiiicient cooling tower to be manufactured at lower cost than heretoforeachieved.

The cooling deck employing the plates 18 of the inand othermodifications may be apparent to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting-fromthe spirit and scope thereof.

We claim:

In a cooling tower, a deck comprising a plurality of horizontally spacedparallel vertical plates, said plates being formed from a'planar sheetof chemically inert plastic material, and being of planar configuration,a plurality of narrow, parallel, horizontal ribs of arcuate crosssection formed on one side of said plate abruptly projecting from theplane thereof, embossed planar plate portions intermediate saidribswhereby liquid flowing down over said plates alternately moves oversaid embossed planar portions and the arcuate surface of said ribs, thevertical width of said embossed planar portions being substantiallygreater than the vertical width of said ribs, spacing protuberancesformed in vertical columns and horizontal rows on said plates projectingfrom said one side thereof adapted to maintain spacing between adjacentplates, each row of spacing protuberances centrally projecting from acommon rib and extending a distance from the plane of the platesubstantially greater than that of the ribs, and a plurality ofconcaveconvex aligning lugs formed on said one side of said platearranged in a substantially centrally located vertical column wherebythe convex portion of said lugs will nest within the concave portion ofthe aligning lugs of the adjacent plate, said columns of spacingprotuberances being asymmetrically related to said columns of lugs onthe opposite sides thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,176,774 Morris Mar. 28, 1916 1,519,739 Aus Der Mark Dec. 16, 19242,356,653 Cox Aug. 22, 1944 2,793,017 Lake May 21, 1957

